Distribution of drinking water to homes and businesses is often done via large cylindrical glass or plastic bottles with a narrow neck, adapted to fit into a dispensing unit, with each bottle holding a considerable volume of water, for example 3.5 gallons, 5 gallons etc. Consequently a full bottle is both heavy (e.g. 25 to 50 lbs or more) and awkward, making transport of the bottles problematic, especially as the bottles are hauled from a truck to the dispensing unit. For example, a driver may deliver 5 bottles to a business located on an upper floor of a building and necessarily must transport the 5 bottles from a truck, into the building and up to the business via an elevator. If the water bottles are stackable, a standard hand truck may sometimes be used, however there is no stability to this arrangement.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,135 teaches a wheeled handcart for transporting water bottles. Support appendages extend forward from a curved frame, spaced apart to accept and support up to four, five gallon water bottles. However, the curved frame supports the weight of all four bottles and will necessarily be constructed from a sturdy but heavy material. The weight of the handcart, therefore, becomes problematic for the driver as the handcart must generally be lifted in and out of a truck by hand. Furthermore, the weight of each bottle is translated to the frame via a pair of connection points which are generally off-centre from the center of mass of the water bottles and are hence subject to undue torque/stress.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,527 teaches a hand truck in which a pair of laterally spaced side rails are laterally connected by cross-wise braces to form a hand truck frame, and, a plurality of trays spaced along the frame for carrying water bottles oriented laterally. The lateral orientation of the cylindrical water bottles is problematic as the water tends to slosh along the cylindrical axis of each bottle, and hence the centre of mass of the loaded hand truck also shifts laterally, which can be awkward for the driver. Further, the hand truck is preferably constructed from aluminum to reduce weight as the frame is quite bulky: a steel frame would result in a hand truck that is too heavy, however the use of aluminum increases the cost of the hand truck considerably.